COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Investigating the link between modern spring activity and associated paleospring mounds in Death Valley, NP

合作研究：调查现代春季活动与北卡罗来纳州死亡谷相关古泉丘之间的联系

• 批准号: 2038377
• 负责人: Laura Rademacher
• 金额: $ 15.21万
• 依托单位: University of the Pacific
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-07-01 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2038377&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: COLLABORATIVE; RESEARCH; Investigating; link; between

In the coming decades, climate change is projected to reduce water availability in dryland regions and the already water-stressed regions of the southwestern United States. In order to implement sustainable water resource policies, a thorough understanding of regional climate history is essential. The PIs will investigate previously undescribed terrestrial limestone rocks that form from spring activity (travertine) from Keane Wonder Spring (KWST), Death Valley, National Park to reconstruct the timing of past wet events. In addition to their potential as past recorders of the regions’ hydroclimate, travertine deposits serve to better understand how microbial communities that inhabit the spring water and associated sediment become part of the fossil record, thus informing the interpretation of the earliest records of life on Earth. Results from this research will help elucidate past changes in the regions’ hydroclimate and help inform our understanding of the pathways that govern microbial fossilization. This study will support three early to mid-career faculty, two graduate students and five undergraduate students at three institutions (two of which are minority-serving institutions). Training for students and class field trips will provide unique research opportunities for undergraduates including field surveys and lab processing methods. Recent work summarizing global trends in travertine deposits indicates that peaks in deposition correspond with local times of high precipitation or wet conditions. Travertine deposits are common in Death Valley, but their reliability as hydroclimate archives has not been fully vetted across multiple climate transitions and necessitates comparison with well-calibrated, proximal hydroclimate records. In addition to their paleoclimate archive potential, travertine deposits are sensitive recorders of interactions between microbial communities and their environment, making travertine a target setting to assess the morphology and function of fossilized microorganisms. The PIs will use a suite of geochemical and microbiological analyses of modern spring water and associated modern travertine growth along distinct facies types of a spring flow transect to reveal the extent to which active travertine accretion records and preserves microbiological, geochemical, and hydrologic signatures. The PIs will analyze Quaternary travertine deposits at KWST and use a suite of geochemical and geochronological analyses to establish the timing of hydroclimatic changes in the region.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在接下来的几十年中，预计气候变化是为了减少旱地地区和美国西南部已经有压力的地区的水量。为了实施可持续的水资源政策，对区域气候历史的透彻了解至关重要。 PI将调查先前未描述的陆地石灰石岩石，这些石灰石岩石是由春季活动（石灰华）的春季（KWST），死亡谷，国家公园的，以重建过去湿事件的时机。除了作为过去氢化气候的过去记录的潜力外，石灰华沉积物还可以更好地理解继承泉水和相关沉积物的微生物群落如何成为化石记录的一部分，从而为地球上最早的生命记录提供了解释。这项研究的结果将有助于阐明该地区氢化气候的过去变化，并有助于告知我们对控制微生物重点的途径的理解。这项研究将支持三个学院的三个早期至中期教师，两名研究生和五名本科生（其中两个是少数派服务机构）。对学生和课堂实地考察的培训将为包括现场调查和实验室处理方法在内的本科生提供独特的研究机会。总结钙华沉积中全球趋势的最新工作表明，沉积的峰值与高降水量或潮湿条件的局部时间相对应。石灰华沉积物在死亡谷很常见，但是它们作为氢化气候档案的可靠性尚未在多种气候过渡中完全审查过，并且与良好的，近端的氢化气候记录进行了必要的比较。除了它们的古气候档案潜力外，石灰华沉积物是微生物群落及其环境之间相互作用的敏感记录，使石灰华成为评估化石微生物的形态和功能的目标环境。 PI将使用现代春季水和相关的现代石灰华沿不同相类型的弹簧流体类型的现代春季水的地球化学和微生物学分析，以揭示活性钙华积聚记录的程度，并保留微生物，地球化学和水学特征。 PIS将分析KWST的第四纪石灰华沉积物，并使用一套地球化学和地质学分析来建立该地区水源性变化的时机。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过使用该基金会的知识分子和更广泛影响的评估来审查CRITERIA的评估来通过评估来获得支持的珍贵。